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Iloilo City is known for the gastronomic delights it has to offer tourists, be it local or foreign ones. The usual fare includes batchoy (Ted’s or Deco’s), pastries (Biscocho Haus), seafood (Breakthrough or Tatoy’s duh) – all these serve local cuisine. The city however has several commendable restaurants that serve international cuisine such as Italian (Afrique’s or Al Dente), Asian (Maki or Krua Thai) & even American (Freddy’s).

As most of you probably know, I am a total foodie. Not only do I enjoy stuffing food up my mouth & depositing fat in my gut – I also write & review everything I happened upon. Going to all kinds of places just to eat is lots of fun for me. Be it somewhere fancy where I splurge, a regular fastfood joint, a normal restaurant or even far-flung & seemingly gritty karinderia-type eateries. I do not mind going out of my way just to eat. After all, I satisfy not only an empty stomach, but my thirst for adventure & discovery too.

Breakthrough is almost synonymous to Iloilo City. But here are some restaurants/eateries in the higad-higad wherein I find the things that consist in their menu rather enjoyable. They feed me nostalgia as well:

Glor’s Broadway Burger – Just around the corner along Calle Real’s Unitop is Glor’s Broadway Burger. I was personally scared to eat around these areas since I was unsure if they were sanitary. I expected a putrid place but behold! A rather clean burger joint decorated with framed authentic broadway posters & brochures (autographed!) greeted me upon entering. And the burgers were good. A decent burger (with yummy relish) for less than Php40 filled my stomach. Your choice if you want it with cheese or not. I highly recommend the place not only for its food, but for the way it was decorated – diner style. But the owners could really do something about spiffing up the place. But nevertheless, it left my head (literally) spinning. I loved the posters.

Jiecel & Thea’s – The old airport area in Mandurriao used to be filled with numerous establishments, especially eateries. But now that it was relocated, it has left the place in an economic state of blah. Some eateries however managed to stay due to the patronage of several customers, and I think Jiecel & Thea’s is one of them. The siomai & siopao at J&T is to die for. I oftentimes find myself riding a taxi or jeepney to that eatery at Barangay Airport just to fulfill my cravings. At a price range of Php30-50, a full stomach & a satisfied palate, it’s definitely worth every peso.

Dac’s – Maybe this one isn’t so unheard of. Have any of you, by any chance, heard of that place in Villa that sells kuchinta? Yes, that kuchinta for Php1.25! But that sticky delicacy isn’t the only thing worth riding a Villa jeep for. The siomai & palabok there is heavenly & the price is cheap. Just ask the people around Villa plaza for Dac’s & I’m pretty sure everyone there spent one of those afternoons removing shredded buko in between their teeth.

Balbi’s – Balbi’s is sort of known in Iloilo for serving the greatest dinuguan ever! In my opinion anyway. Savory pork innards & puto is looove. I am not a big fan of pork but dinuguan always gets me. And lechon skin too. Not to mention bacon. Sorry, vegans. My mother says the Pancit Malabon is good there too. I will try soon.

Puto Manapla – Taste the purple puto & you’d wonder how you ever got by without this. But then I cannot envision a childhood without Puto Manapla.

I am very sure that there are some more but these are the only things at the top of my head right now.